This invention combines two previously unrelated areas, namely screen-and keyboard unlocking mechanisms and application launch systems, which are here described separately.
Traditionally and typically, screen- and keyboard unlocking mechanisms on mobile/handheld devices involve multiple key presses or a combination of key presses and touch screen gestures to prevent spurious unlocks that would occur if only one action was necessary. Note that several devices on the market today actually a single key press on a special key to unlock the device (e.g. a Camera button). This special key can easily be pressed by mistake when the device is placed in a pocket or a bag.
These systems all suffer from the fact that extra actions are needed to start using the device and access the functionality and/or applications on the device if the user already knows what she wants to access.
Application launch and access to certain system functions sometimes need to be very quick. Typical ways of starting applications on a mobile/handheld device involve navigating a menu system. The number of key presses or gestures vary immensely from device to device and from manufacturer to manufacturer, and in some cases the devices even have dedicated hardware buttons that trigger the start of certain applications. Note that the latter tend to suffer from the spurious device unlocks described in the paragraph above. The fewest number of actions needed to start an application after the device has been safely unlocked is however in the best case 1 (one), and that is in the case of having a direct shortcut to the application from the screen that is shown after the device is unlocked.
Many application launch systems—especially those running on devices with only touch sensitive screens as main input—require the user to look on the screen when navigating the menu structure or using the direct shortcuts available. Even worse is the situation on devices where layout is dynamic and a certain application launch command is located on different positions on different occasions.